With the advent of web based personal information management (PIM) programs such as calendars, address books, and task lists, people who spend much of their time away from their home or office have come to depend on these web applications to manage their everyday affairs. In fact, online or mobile PIM applications are often the only place that some users record important personal information. Although modern portable computing devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs) and smartphones sometimes allow users to access information stored on the Internet without being tethered to a particular location, PDAs generally force the user to view the information in a vacuum, i.e., without the context provided by information stored on other devices or in another Internet applications.
Context may be especially important when the user is unable to focus solely on the portable computing device, e.g., when the user is driving a motor vehicle. For instance, as the user is driving, the user may need driving directions provided by a navigation system and, simultaneously, want contact information stored in a web application accessible by a PDA. Switching focus between the road, the navigation system, and the PDA may have disastrous consequences for not only the driver, but also for others on the road.